Patients have carried out more than 21,000 searches of GP practice data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) in the last six months.
QoF data for England has been available for patients to search since September via a patient-friendly site produced by the Information Centre (IC). The site enables patients to access their own practice’s results, compare them with last year’s results and compare both against other practices in the local area and against national scores.
Statistics from the IC show that more than 21,000 searches for GP practices have been made and more than 21,000 sets of practice details viewed.
The IC says the top three diseases searched for were diabetes, followed by asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The top ten areas searched for by location were London, followed by Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, Croydon, Leicester and Coventry.
The IC says the search tool also provides information on how well a practice is managing chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes, how well the practice is organised, how patients view their experience in the surgery and the amount of extra services offered such as child health and maternity services.
Professor Denise Lievesley, IC chief executive, said: “Our evidence of usage suggests this kind of tool is becoming increasingly popular amongst the public to help them find out data about their GP practice where they live. We want to share this kind of information with the public and the wider healthcare community wherever we can.”
Overall, visitors to the centre’s website increased by almost 100% in the year to January 2007, with the site now attracting more than 1000 visits per day and 43,000 visits in January.
Link
Information Centre’s GP practice results database